Content marketing and social media

A few years ago brands were getting their heads around SEO and social media. Now content marketing has made it into the digital landscape and many are asking where SEO and social media fit into the picture.

Similar to the way SEO and content marketing are two distinct digital marketing campaigns that overlap (which we discussed in our last piece), social media campaigns and content marketing campaigns can and should coexist, too, benefiting both.

Targeted content and social media are designed to attract attention and are, ultimately, marketing tools that can be used to "pull" audiences to your brand. They work very well together because, while they share the same goal, they approach it differently. Creating content that is valuable to your target market, whether it be news, blog posts or white papers, will establish an audience that values you as a source of information and this will draw them to your product or service.

Engaging with the audience

Social media, on the other hand, is a way to engage with your audience by encouraging a conversation. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other social networking sites connect the consumer with your brand and with other consumers through dialogue. Used together, social media and the targeted content behind a content marketing campaign reinforce each other.

The conversation you have with your audience through social media can be used to spread awareness of your content marketing campaign. It allows you to share new content with the consumer and, at the same time, allows the consumer to share relevant or interesting content with other consumers. This has the added benefit of boosting your SEO as links to your content are shared and more people view it.

Social media is, in essence, the perfect conduit for your carefully crafted content. It is a great way to distribute your content and analyse its impact.

In our next piece we'll look at how content marketing can speak to brands, publishers and agencies.

About Athar Naser

Athar Naser is head of Juice Content. He is responsible for content strategy and content marketing across the group as well as for department clients. He brings a wealth of global media and digital experience to the content specialist division of Prime Media Online, as well as to the already rich talent pool at the publisher of South African web portal, iafrica.com. Follow @JuiceContent on Twitter.

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Content marketing definitely gives you the opportunity to showcase your particular expertise and position your organisation in the market. However, as a form of publishing, it requires a disciplined approach that starts with objectives and a strategy and includes research, writing and editing to an agreed schedule. Of course, not everyone has the time, writing skills or inclination to mount a sustained content marketing campaign. And where this is the case, they need to make the leap from acknowledging the benefits of content marketing to committing the resources to make it happen.